Senior Capstone Project

Senior Capstone Project For this assignment you are to select a hospital for which you are familiar or have access to the needed information. This hospital will be the focus of the case and SLP assignments. For the module 1 case please submit a paper that: 1. Identify a problem in hospital administration. 2. Describes the problem and discusses its importance. University Hospital System in San Antonio- Nursing Shortages The University Health System is one of America’s best hospitals. The University Health System is in Bexar County and is one of South Texas’ first and only Magnet Healthcare Organization. . As per the University Hospital this is one of the best hospitals in San Antonio, TX. The clinicians, hospital and physicians are recognized as the leaders in advanced treatment options, there are new technologies and clinical research. The University Health System is a nationally recognized teaching hospital and network of outpatient healthcare owners. Even though it is the largest employer in the Bexar County that has more than 6500 employees with more than 800 of residents and physicians along with an operating budget of $1.226 billion in 2015. This is the irony a hospital that is the largest employer is facing severe nursing shortages in the United States.University Hospital System in San Antonio is currently facing some serious concerns regarding the allocation of nurses. Though there has been a continuous and regular intake of staff, the numbers are far less than those needed for an efficient treatment system. As per the institute, the staff intake has been regular. But there are cases reported where the efficiency of nurses was dubious or they did not work as expected, mainly due to work overload or high care acuity levels. Another important aspect while considering the allocation of staff nurses is the proficiency variance amongst each care giver. There can be no compromise with the quality of services rendered, and the ultimate aim of the University Hospital is to safeguard patient’s right to quality care.A careful assessment is needed for analyzing the achievement level of nursing objectives, giving due respect to patient safety and methods in the healthcare system (Ulfvarson, 2012). Caron, 2004 says that the nursing shortage had begun in the later part of the mid 1990’s when the turnover rates for RN’s and LPN’s had begun to rise dramatically. For the past several decades the RN numbers have been increasing continually in absolute numbers and so also are the numbers in population increasing as well. It is a suggestion that the periodic shortages in nurses being experienced is driven more by the increases in the demand and not by a reduction in the quantity. The elimination or curtailing of the nursing shortage is dire of importance. If we continue to ignore the cause leading to this shortage then the situation will only exacerbate. The issue of patient to nurse staffing ratios that even further complicates the whole problem by creating only dissatisfaction and burnout. The Texas Board of Nursing offers nurses some protection from having too many patients under their care. Texas nurses can employ the protections afforded by the Safe Harbor Act. This highlights the escalating staffing issues within Texas and across the nation. Nursing is also subject to a practice known as Eating Your Young which essentially entails seasoned veteran nurses focusing on all of the faults of a new graduate nurses instead of fostering the role of a caring mentor. The new nurses often resign and seek employment elsewhere or leave nursing altogether. In Summary,the Hospital should lobby to seek some remedies from the federal government to reduce the nurse shortages. This could include passing national legislation which creates a minimum patient to nurse staffing ratio, the elimination of mandatory overtime by improvements in recruitment, retention and by enhancement of hours, salary and benefits. References: Ulfvarson, J. &Oxelmark, L. 2012- Developing an Assessment Tool for Intended Learning Outcomes in Clinical Practice for Nursing Students. Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Nursing, 2012: 32(6); 703-708. Caron,2004- THE NURSING SHORTAGE IN THE UNITED STATES: WHAT CAN BE DONE TO SOLVE THE CRISIS?